Over the last several weeks, I have seen quite a few articles on the net suggesting there is a drastic difference between "Free Enterprise" and "Capitalism."

In my mind, they were always the same. But now I'm starting to question that assumption. Is there a difference between the two? If so, what are those differences? Which one is practiced here and around the world?

Over the last several weeks, I have seen quite a few articles on the net suggesting there is a drastic difference between "Free Enterprise" and "Capitalism."

In my mind, they were always the same. But now I'm starting to question that assumption. Is there a difference between the two? If so, what are those differences? Which one is practiced here and around the world?

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Capitalism is practiced practically no where and what goes on now in the EU and US is something Adam Smith would not recognize but Vito Genovese would,

what goes on now is past fascism and past imperialism, in fact there really is no name for this sick mess going down, the only thing that can be defined is how the minds of the worlds populations, Back White, Yellow, Red and Brown are being messed with,
through Hitler's science of propaganda;an excerpt from Mein Kampf:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to. Consequently, the greater the mass it is intended to reach, the lower its purely intellectual level will have to be. But if, as in propaganda for sticking out a war, the aim is to influence a whole people, we must avoid excessive intellectual demands on our public, and too much caution cannot be extended in this direction. The more modest its intellectual ballast, the more exclusively it takes into consideration the emotions of the masses, the more effective it will be. And this is the best proof of the soundness or unsoundness of a propaganda campaign, and not success pleasing a few scholars or young aesthetes. The art of propaganda lies in understanding the emotional ideas of the great masses and finding, through a psychologically correct form, the way to the attention and thence to the heart of the broad masses. The fact that our bright boys do not understand this merely shows how mentally lazy and conceited they are. Once understood how necessary it is for propaganda in be adjusted to the broad mass, the following rule results: It is a mistake to make propaganda many-sided, like scientific instruction, for instance. The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan. As soon as you sacrifice this slogan and try to be many-sided, the effect will piddle away, for the crowd can neither digest nor retain the material offered. In this way the result is weakened and in the end entirely cancelled out.

plain and simple: free enterprise involves the right to sell product or service and is usually good for the economy, patriotic and capitalism is an act of benefiting for self at the cost of a larger scale (capital), which is unpatriotic, and does not help our economy

A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts. Free markets differs from situations encountered in controlled markets or a monopoly, which can introduce price deviations without any changes to supply and demand. Advocates of a free market traditionally consider the term to imply that the means of production is under private, and not state control or co-operative ownership. This is the contemporary use of the term "free market" by economists and in popular culture; the term has had other uses historically.
A free-market economy is one within and legislation of economic activity, neither limiting it (by regulating industries or protecting them from inwhich all markets are unregulated by any parties other than market participants. In its purest form, the government plays a neutral role in its administration ternal/external market pressures) nor actively promoting it (by owning economic interests or offering subsidies to businesses or R&D).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market

As far as the difference between Free markets and capitalism to the lives of people living in this nation,

Free markets are what got us here from Africa,
and Capitalism is what allowed Black Wall street,
and Black businesses to flourish before integration.

Free markets are what created the mess in 2008,
because the checks and balances on capitalism put in place by FDR were removed. Glass Steagall was destroyed in 1999, the fence to hold in the excesses of capitalism and to prevent free markets.

capitalism is like electricity, if controlled and regulated it can do some good but unregulated it kills .

Aware of the fluctuations of capitalism, FDR was forced by the public to implement laws
to protect the public from Free markets

1 Glass Steagall to prevent subprime lonas of any form, hedge funds, and regualte and restrict derivatives, as well as prevent savings banks from selling stocks.

2 A provision that states post offices must stay open even if there is a recession or depression

3 And in times of recession or depression, the president at that time has the power, and is required to create a WPA which will create jobs ,to be paid for by a Federal Reserve Act, that orders the Federal Reserve to kick up the money (the way they have done to banks in secret, in addition to the bailouts)

What do you think of a resource-based economy? With this mindset, money would be eliminated completely. Technological and green approaches would be used to create the resources that we are currently used to.

I can't post links, but if you Google Jacque Fresco you can get a better understanding. He created this philosophy.

What do you think of a resource-based economy? With this mindset, money would be eliminated completely. Technological and green approaches would be used to create the resources that we are currently used to.

I can't post links, but if you Google Jacque Fresco you can get a better understanding. He created this philosophy.

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We pretty much lived like that for 20,000 years, and basicaly that is the concept of Black Nationalism within a murdered economy;
The Nguzo Saba provides the basic precepts to follow, but the skills exchange, and community farm must be in place for it to work.

Are the articles related somehow? Free Enterprise is usually a synonym for capitalism. Maybe there's a school of thought or ideology that's asserted a specific/different definition of the term that's in their perspective.

Are the articles related somehow? Free Enterprise is usually a synonym for capitalism. Maybe there's a school of thought or ideology that's asserted a specific/different definition of the term that's in their perspective.

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Free Markets is about the unrestricted use of capitalism, one is an adverb the other the subject

Are the articles related somehow? Free Enterprise is usually a synonym for capitalism. Maybe there's a school of thought or ideology that's asserted a specific/different definition of the term that's in their perspective.

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Most articles that differentiate between the two characterize them based on size an location of the business. Free Enterprise is considered more so along the lines of small business. You know, the local restaurant, the neighborhood farmer, the community bank, etc. Capitalism, on the other hand, is characterized as big business. You know, the global retailer, the industrial farming companies, the mega banks, etc.

Most articles that differentiate between the two characterize them based on size an location of the business. Free Enterprise is considered more so along the lines of small business. You know, the local restaurant, the neighborhood farmer, the community bank, etc. Capitalism, on the other hand, is characterized as big business. You know, the global retailer, the industrial farming companies, the mega banks, etc.

That's an interesting perspective, but I disagree that scale is a discerning attribute that would determine whether or not the activity falls under capitalism. Essentially both groups are exercising the same rights, in theory at least, and are utilizing the same framework of means and modes.

It's interesting how in some ways capitalism itself has cause things to come full circle regarding the origin of capitalism/free markets/free enterprise itself. It seems like the environment of openness and competition is being cannibalized by entities that couldn't exist without those initial conditions to begin with. That's why I still find that short blog post pretty interesting. It's attempting to make a distinction between kinds of capitalism that's favored along the political spectrum, even though I disagree that the terms need to be changed to meet those needs.

Free Markets is about the unrestricted use of capitalism, one is an adverb the other the subject

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This is essentially my point. Most usages of the word capitalism refer to this specific kind of capitalism. Of course, if we're talking about the context of a in-depth serious piece of writing then the extra distinction is useful. For most high level discussions about the subject, landing on the general vicinity in the gradient is useful enough, IMHO.